Jessica MacDonald takes bronze medal at Wrestling World Championships

Thursday, September 19, 2013

FILA World Championships in full swing as it enters the women’s competition.

Canadian wrestler Jessica MacDonald won the bronze medal in the freestyle women’s 51 kg weight class at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, on Wednesday, winning her third consecutive medal at this prestigious event.

MacDonald, the reigning World Champion in the 51 kg weight class, started her tournament with a bang by winning her first three matches 7-0 (vs Tjapico, LAT, in 29 seconds), 8-5 (vs Miyahara, JPN) and 8-0 (vs Sambou, SEN), qualifying for the semifinals.

In that match, facing Yanan Sun of China, the eventual World Champion, MacDonald lost her match 7-0, moving on to the bronze medal match.

Facing Ukraine’s Yuliya Blanhinya, MacDonald showed poise and confidence, taking the victory and the bronze medal by defeating her opponent 8-6. MacDonald had a slow start to this match, trailing 0-4 at half-time. In the second of two periods, MacDonald came back from a 6-2 deficit and scored 6 unanswered points, including two in the last second of the match, to take the bronze medal.

“Today was not my best day of wrestling and even though it was a hard day, I persevered and am happy with the bronze medal,” said MacDonald, who wrestles for the Brock Wrestling Club in St-Catharines, ON, coached by Marty Calder, who noted “that Jessica showed guts and determination in her performance”.

This bronze medal is MacDonald’s third straight medal at the FILA World Championships, after winning the gold medal in 2012 (Strathcona County, CAN) and the bronze medal in 2011 (Istanbul, TUR).

MacDonald is enjoying a fruitful season, having won medals at every event in which she participated, taking gold notably at the World Cup, Pan-American Championships, Grand Prix of Spain and at the Battle At the Falls.

MacDonald is only one of three Canadian women wrestlers who won a world title, along with Martine DuGrenier and Christine Nordhagen-Vierling. In the rich history of the sport at these Senior World Championships, Canada has won a total of ten World Titles (MacDonald 1, DuGrenier 3, Nordhagen-Vierling 6). Canadian women have won a total of 37 medals (10 Gold, 11 Silver, 16 Bronze).

GARCIATOPSMENPERFORMANCESWITHEIGHTHPLACE

Earlier at the World Championships, Haislan Garcia, who represented Canada at the 2012 Olympic Games, finished in eighth place of the men’s freestyle 66 kg weight class.

Garcia won his first three matches and faced Lopez Azcuy of Cuba in the quarterfinals. Garcia lost his match 0-1, and was relegated to the repechage round, facing Jin Hyok Kang of Korea, a match he also lost 6-0 to end the day.

At the 2010 World Championships, Garcia finished fifth, while at the 2012 Olympic Games he took the seventh place.

In the history of these World Championships, Canadian men won 13 medals at Senior World Championships (2 Gold, 5 Silver, 6 Bronze), with Gia Sissaouri winning the last medal for Canada, a gold medal in 2001. Only two Canadian men have won World Titles: Gia Sissaouri (2001, Sofia, BUL) and Daniel Igali (1999, Ankara, TUR).

The competition resumes tomorrow with the women freestyle in the 55 kg, 59 kg and 63 kg weight categories.

ABOUTWRESTLINGCANADALUTTE
The Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association (Wrestling Canada Lutte) is the national sport governing body for Olympic style wrestling in Canada. The association’s role is to encourage and develop the widest participation and highest proficiency in Olympic wrestling in Canada. Through the development of coaches, officials and administrators the association provides leadership to the sport and enables the provincial/territorial affiliates to coordinate programs and activities in their jurisdictions. For more information, please visit www.wrestling.ca

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